God did not design us to be anxious. Anxiety acts like a poison that eats away at our soul, our state of mind, and our joy. Fear, on the other hand, can actually be healthy. Fear of snakes causes us to find an alternate route when we find one lying across our path. Fear of failing an exam and being thrown out of college can drive us to study! Scripture often exhorts us to fear the Lord but it never tells us to be anxious. Anxiety is different than fear. It is not necessarily grounded in reason. It is a prevailing worry for which we can do little about. Anxiety does not compel us to take action like fear does. Anxiety tends to immobilize us so we find ourselves merely worrying rather than doing something productive to address our concerns.
If you allow yourself to become consumed with anxious thoughts, you may become depressed. Wallowing in anything for very long will affect you. So, living your life in constant anxiety leads to a state of depression.
While anxious thoughts will inevitably bring us down, an encouraging word acts like a balm to our struggling soul. The power of a positive word, spoken in season, is hard to measure. The key is to develop friends who will routinely speak those words to you. It means you need to be the kind of person who utters such words to others as well. When you begin to feel anxious, find your way to those people who know how to speak the kind of word you need to hear. Don’t simply congregate with other anxious, negative people! Find people who truly know the Lord and who understand how to give grace through their words.